


The Calming Scent of Lavender

by miracle_writing



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Back at it again with another fanfic of these two, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, MY BABIES
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26374783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miracle_writing/pseuds/miracle_writing
Summary: Naoto likes the smell of Lavender; it calms her down whenever she is frustrated or stressed with her work. So one day, when Naoto is dealing with a difficult case, Kanji comes up with a sweet gift to lift her spirits.
Relationships: Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	The Calming Scent of Lavender

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! It's me again, back at it with another fanfic of these two. So this fanfic was inspired by a tweet I saw, and honestly, it just screamed KanNao! So here I am to share with you this fanfiction I wrote. Hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Link to the Tweet: https://twitter.com/youknowlex_/status/1301883508454023168?s=19

_The scent was faint, sweet, and gentle_.

It was a familiar aroma that Naoto had known for most of her life. She was first introduced to the alluring scent when she was a child, living with her grandfather at their family's estate. One night when her grandfather returned home from working on a particularly grueling case, he lit a purple candle that he brought with him and placed it on a small coffee table right near the entrance. 

The fragrance quickly filled the air, putting everyone in the room at ease. Naoto's grandfather put the rest of his work aside for the night, pulling out a thin hardcover book from the bookshelf and gesturing for the young girl to sit next to him on the couch. 

Before the elder man could start reading, a pair of large steel-blue eyes caught his attention.

"Grandpa, what is this smell?" young Naoto asked, with the look of curiosity one would only get from a child. 

He chuckled and gingerly stroked her blue strands of hair. "It's Lavender. It's a smell that helps me calm down after a hard day at work." 

"I like it," Naoto said quietly. She nestled herself into her grandfather's arm, breathing in the scent and slowly closing her eyes. 

"Naoto, are you already starting to fall asleep? I haven't even started the book yet." He chortled as he placed his arm around her, pulling her into a side hug.

Naoto hummed with eyes half-lidded, "I'm not tired. It's just the smell is very nice."

Thus, lighting the purple candle became a routine for her grandfather whenever he came back home from dealing with a case that left him exhausted and drained. The particular candle was not lit every day, but when it was, it was such a delight.

As the years went by, Naoto soon picked up this remedy for her own stress. As she became older and had more experience with being a detective, the cases became more difficult and exhausting. The scent of lavender was her treatment for alleviating her stress and frustrations with these types of cases. 

Therefore, she made sure to always have some type of implement that contained lavender with her. For her apartment, she had a candle that was placed on her bedside table. For work, she carried a pocket-size glass bottle containing lavender essential oil. She acquired the method of carrying the oil after realizing she could not bring a candle with her to work. So she researched portable items carrying the herb, leading her to order herself a bottle or two. 

When she moved into a new apartment with her long time boyfriend, Kanji, she placed her lavender-scented candle intricately on a white cubic bookcase near the entrance. The candle was snuggled between two of his nicely knitted stuff toys.

"Ya sure like that smell, huh," Kanji said nonchalantly, placing a framed picture of themselves on one of the shelves.

She put the book she was reading down and looked back at him from the couch. "It's a very soothing scent. My grandfather would always use this scent to relieve any stress he might've had when working on a difficult case." She chuckled to herself, "Evidently, I use his same method. It has proven to help me a lot with my past cases." 

"Is that why ya used to always smell like lavender when we were back in the tv?" 

A light blush formed on her cheeks. "It was not always!" She then turned her head to look back down at her book, speaking quieter this time. "But yes… Although it was an exhilarating experience, it was also a very stressful time in my life. The thought of the unknown had me constantly on the edge, so I kept a pocket size bottle full of the herb's oil with me whenever we went."

Before she knew it, Kanji wrapped his arms around her from behind; lightly pressing a kiss to the top of her head and nuzzled his nose into her hair. 

"I like it. It reminds me of ya." 

She couldn't help but smile from the warm feeling in her chest. She placed her hands gently on his arms and turned her head to look up at him. "I'm happy to know that it does." 

\---

So, the routine continued. On the days where she’d come home completely spent and irritated, she would light her candle and let the fragrance wash away all of her stress. It was almost therapeutic how a scent could alleviate so much tension from her body; that and Kanji’s unconditional love and endless affection for her. 

Although Naoto was passionate about the work that she did, the job itself was very demanding. So it came to no one’s surprise when she arrived home one night at half past eleven. 

She was completely and utterly spent from the long day she had at the station. She had been stuck on this specific case for weeks on end, trying desperately to find any leads or witness testimonies to bring this case forward. Unfortunately, it had been at a standstill. 

With a long sigh, Naoto opened her front door, picked up the lighter in front of the canister, and lit the candle. As she removed her jacket to hang it up in the closet, she noticed the lights to their living area were still on. Making her way down the hall and into the space, she saw Kanji sitting on the floor in front of their coffee table, attentively knitting some type of white fabric. 

“You are not asleep yet?” Naoto asked softly as she made her way towards him. 

Kanji snapped his head up as soon as he heard her voice. “Whoah, ya’ scared me for a bit there.” He chuckled, “But nah... just working a few stuff before I hit the hay. Also, welcome home! Left food for ya in the microwave.” 

Naoto leaned in to give him a delicate kiss on the lips. “Thank you, but I might just shower and go to sleep. I feel exhausted.” 

“Was a bad day, huh.”

“Bad seems to be the word for it.” She plopped herself on the couch, letting her back sink into its cushions. “I just feel as though I have been working so long on this. We have a possible suspect, but little to no evidence or leads to even allow a warrant for their arrest. It’s just been at a standstill.” 

Kanji put the fabric down on the table. “Can’t even imagine how frustrating that’s gotta be. Ya want me to make ya some tea?”

“It’s alright. I wouldn’t want to disrupt you from your work.”

“Nah, you’re fine. What kind of a man would I be if I ain’t take care of ya?”

She found herself quietly giggling at the comment. “Alright, If you insist.” 

With that, he pulled himself off the floor and made his way into the kitchen. As he was preparing to boil the water, he heard an airy gasp coming from Naoto’s direction. He put the kettle down and went to make sure everything was alright.

“Hey Naoto, what’s the matter?”

She looked up to see her boyfriend dawn a concerned look on his face. “Oh, I’m sorry for worrying you. It’s just that I checked my pockets for my essential oil and it seems that I’ve used the last drops of it at work.” 

“I can head to Junes for ya and get ya some.” Kanji was more than willing to drop everything to help her with this dilemma. 

“It’s okay.” She exclaimed as she waved her hands and flashed him a small smile, “It’s entirely too late to take the trip over there for something so small. And besides, I can survive a day of work without it.”

“Ya positive?”

“Positive.” 

For Naoto, the rest of the night consisted of her drinking the tea Kanji prepared for her, taking a hot shower to relieve the tension from her body, and going to bed. 

Kanji, on the other hand, had different plans on how to spend the rest of the night. 

_Time to get to stitching,_ he mused, pulling a sapphire-colored fabric from his sewing drawer. 

\---

When morning hit, Naoto was ready to continue yet another dreaded day at the station. She grabbed her blue pea coat, and before she could head out the door, Kanji called out to her. 

“Hey, Naoto!”

“Yes, Kanji?” She turned to face the man at the end of their hallway, still holding onto the doorknob. 

“I remember ya mention that lavender thing as some type of herb...like a plant, right?”

“Yes, what about it?” 

“Eh it's nuthin’, just curious is all. Anyway, I'll leave ya to it. See ya later, yeah?” 

Naoto smiled and waved as she was exiting their apartment; she didn’t think much about the question. “Yes, I will see you later.” With that, she was out the door. 

When Naoto arrived at the station, she was met with a stack of papers on her desk. Confused by why they were placed there, she shuffled the papers to see what they entailed. 

_It’s all about the case, but yet no new information to be gained from this._ Her frustration had reached its peak. She groaned as she sat on her chair. With her elbow on the table, she massaged her temple in an attempt to ease the migraine she felt forming in her head. 

“Ah, Shirogane-san.” Naoto looked up from her desk and was met by an officer who was peeking through the doorway of her office.

“I’ve been ordered to give you these documents relating to the case you’ve been assigned to. This was earlier in the day though, and seeing as you haven’t arrived yet, I decided to place it on your desk. I’m sorry if it has caused an inconvenience.” 

“No, it is quite alright. I’ll take another look at these. Thank you for bringing them to me. Also, may you please close the door on the way out?” 

“Will do.” The officer beamed, closing the door behind him. When the door shut, Naoto let out a sigh before placing her arms on the desk and burying her head in them. 

_An Inconvenience would be considered an understatement,_ she thought. 

After a few moments of self-depreciation, Naoto heard a knock on the door. She sat herself up to seem somewhat presentable and not like she had been self-loathing for the past fifteen minutes.

"Come in!" 

The door opened, revealing the same officer who had been in her office minutes prior. 

"Shirogane-san, sorry to disturb you, but a delivery was left for you at the front desk." 

"A delivery? Does it have anything to do with the case?"

"Well...no…or at least I don't believe so."

Now she was curious. She hadn't been expecting any type of delivery, let alone have anything be brought to the station. "I don't mean to trouble you, but is there any way you can bring the item to me?" 

"Sure thing!" The officer left in a flash. After a brief moment, he returned holding a moderately sized bouquet.

"Here you are." He smiled as he placed the assortment of flowers on her desk. 

The bouquet was simple, consisting of only one type of plant, but oh was it beautiful. It was adorned with purple flowers; the stems were long and the petals were fine and vibrant. Every petal was blooming with life and each stem was intricately placed as if each one had a purpose. 

Naoto couldn't take her eyes off of the breathtaking display in front of her.

"Seems like someone must really like you." The officer chuckled at the awestruck detective. "If that is all, I will be taking my leave now."

The officer left, leaving Naoto alone with the bouquet.

She leaned in to sniff the flowers. A sweet but delicate scent was emitted from the plants. It was the familiar aroma she adored so much.

 _Lavender._ Naoto couldn't help but smile as the scent set in, easing her of any worry she might have felt previously.

However, there were still two questions on her mind. Who could have possibly given her this gift and why? Sure, she might have some suspicion that a certain person who loved to sew was behind this, but she did not understand what she had done to warrant this gift.

She decided to inspect the bouquet further to see if there were any clues to help answer her questions. Upon further inspection, she found a blue bear attached to the side of the bouquet, giving the illusion that the toy was hugging the handle. She let her fingers glide over the exceptional stitching work. It was made from silk fabric and was rich in color. 

After a few seconds of admiring the stuffed bear, Naoto found a note snuggled between the toy and bouquet. She carefully pulled it out, unfolding it to read what it said.

_"I know you've been through a lot these past couple of days and I promise to love ya even harder on your worst days."_

On the bottom right-hand corner of the note, revealed the name of the sender. " _Love, Kanji."_

Naoto felt her smile grow even wider. She had pieced the puzzle together.

_So, he didn't want me to feel overwhelmed._

She pulled out her phone to send him a message.

  * _THANK U 4 FLOWERS. FEELING A LOT BETTER NOW._



A minute passed before she got a text message back from Kanji.

  * _Couldn't leave ya there all stressed out. Glad ya like them._



Naoto found herself staring at the message, with pure joy and affection overtaking her. No amount of words could describe the love she held for him. 

She finally put her phone down and shuffled the documents from earlier that was admittedly almost forgotten. 

Now with her mind completely at ease, it seems she could take another look at the paperwork.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hope you've enjoyed the story! I just love the idea of Kanji cheering up Naoto when she's upset or just overwhelmed. He would be such the cutest boyfriend! My heart!
> 
> Anyway, like always, Feedback is always appreciated! And thanks for reading! <3 ~ Miracle


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